Celebrity Mom: Mayim Bialik

When you first think of Mayim Bialik, a young chipper Blossom probably comes to mind. Or if you’re on the younger end, you probably think of Amy Farrah Fowler (my personal favourite of her work). Or you may think of her as the actress who got a Ph.D. in Neuroscience (and I do believe we can use “the”, not “a” for that category). What most people are probably unaware of is that Ms. Bialik is also a mother who is well in tune with aspects of Evolutionary Parenting, though she calls herself an “Attachment Parent” [i] (and really, the two are quite similar in practice, though the rationale is different and EP has a few extra practices like multiple caregivers and limiting toy exposure). For one, when her sons were younger, she was caught breastfeeding in (gasp) public with them. I know that celebrities have to watch where they do things because photos can crop up anywhere, but it’s always nice to see a famous mother breastfeeding in public to help kill the stigma that somehow breastfeeding, and breastfeeding in public , is wrong or dirty. People seem to forget that babies need to eat and they aren’t adults who can “wait” – they need food regularly to help them grow. She also reports that she breastfed her first child for 26 months and the second was still breastfeeding on demand at 2 ½ years. Whoo hoo!

In addition to breastfeeding, she has talked about her family bed in the media, helping to provide good, solid information on the bonding that occurs during co-sleeping and some of the safety tips. For example, her family has used futons on the floor, pushed together, to avoid the risk of baby falling. They also have used two futons to create enough space for everyone (mom, dad, 5 year old, and the youngest). As Ms. Bialik has said, co-sleeping and cuddling with your children is “beautiful”. Third, she babywears! While some mothers will babywear at the very start, they soon become dependent on the stroller as baby gets older, but as Ms. Bialik realized, babywearing allows for more bonding, touch, and makes nursing on demand much easier. Personally, I find the ability to let my daughter nurse while walking around and doing errands incredibly freeing – no rushing home, no trying to hide (because it’s quite discreet when they’re attached to you), just feed when she wants and continue on the way.

Finally, she also had both children naturally and her second was born at home. As she rightly points out, countries where midwifery and natural birth are considered the norm have lower rates of maternal and infant mortality. I have long argued for homebirth, even though I was unable to complete my home birth and had to transfer. We have come to fear birth in our society and that’s led to a reliance upon other techniques that are not necessary in the vast majority of births. In a day and age where you’re more likely to hear a celebrity talk about how great her epidural was, it’s nice to hear a celebrity talk about how great her natural home birth was.

But not only does Ms. Bialik practice parenting techniques that have been around for centuries, she is trying to get the news out. She is the spokesperson for Holistic Moms Network, which promotes non-mainstream choices in parenting such as attachment parenting, vegetarianism, and home-schooling. While not all of these practices may be for you, they are all out of the mainstream and need someone to make others aware of them. Even if people just learn about their existence from her, she’s done children and their parents a favor by allowing them to be more educated about the different forms of parenting out there and how some of them can really help children develop into moral, empathic, intelligent human beings.

Oh – did I mention she’s also a certified lactation educator? Do I need to say any more? So to Mayim Bialik – actress, neuroscientist, educator, but most importantly mother – I salute you and thank you for helping to make our society a more family-friendly place.

Comments

Mayim Bialik is thoughtful and intelligent woman and I like what she stands for. However, I feel her decision to circumcise her boys is incompatible with her natural parenting lifestyle. I realize that she is Jewish (so am I) and that, for her, circumcision is tied to her religious beliefs. However, I would like to point out that what we embrace in Judaism and how we choose to interpret the Torah is a matter of choice. My understanding is the Mayim fell in love with a non-Jew who converted for her sake. I would argue that intermarriage is a far greater threat to Judaism than intact foreskins. Those who are interested in learning more about the current Jewish movement against circumcision should visit the Beyond the Bris project.

Rebecca, I’m not Jewish, so I may be wrong but,….. if the mother is Jewish, aren’t the children Jewish? Isn’t the bigger issue Jewish men who marry non Jewish woman?

I am 100% with you on the circumcision issue, though. It’s great that so many Jewish Americans are fully embracing gentle parenting by finding alternatives to cutting. It’s really sad that she chose to cut her children, because it just undermines all of her other work (in my opinion)

Cassie – my friend who is Jewish told me that technically, if a male isn’t circumcised, he’s not Jewish. But as she pointed out, it’s not like there are circumcision police out there asking you to drop your pants. But for those who are more orthodox, I imagine it’s a huge deal. I don’t quite know what the solution is. Typically I’d say education, but I’m not sure education can win against thousands of years of religion and culture.

Please edit the article and fix the following error: “Even if people just learn about their existence from her, she’s done children and their parents a favor by allowing them to be more educated about the different forms of parenting out there and how some of them can really help children develop into moral, empathic, intelligence human beings.” At the end of the sentence, it should read: moral, empathic, intelligENT human beings. Please fix this as it makes the entire content seem less credible.

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This site was created to provide parents with information on a variety of parenting topics, with a focus on historical, cross-cultural, and biological factors. The goal is to help parents be better parents for their babies by focusing on parenting as it has evolved for millions of years (not the drastic changes we have made to parenting in the last couple hundred years), for which human infants are adapted. But most importantly is to provide information so parents can make informed decisions about the ways in which they raise their children.